It won’t be the first time and I am sure it won’t be the last, but the subject came up again the other day of what makes a good pub. It creeps up as part of the standard rotation whenever you are with friends having a pint. I find it interesting that it even shows up in the UK (check out a post here from Tandleman’s beer blog), so the question is an international one as well as a local one.
Personally, I found one of my favorite pubs when I was in culinary school. A place called Bob’s Sports Bar up in Grand Rapids. I don’t remember everything they had on tap (probably 4 handles) except for Leinenkugel’s Red. You could get a tall for $2. At one point, I remember watching the winter olympics on one of the 2 tvs after class on a Friday night.
There weren’t too many frills, I can’t even remember if they had a juke box. The food was classic bar food, burgers and other oddities from the fryer. The place wasn’t spotless but it wasn’t really dirty either. I guess the best way to say it was, it was just a neighborhood bar.
So my question to you is, what do you want from a pub? Or better yet, what is it that makes a place your regular place?
Lets ponder this while we sit with a pint…
